I have been using windows for ages and i really don’t like it but it has all the softwares i need and is the most compatible operating system on ground. I used Fedora and Ubuntu for a while and i absolutely love the speed and ease of use, its just a pity i cant install my windows apps on them. I have a 32gig sized folder full of windows softwares from over the years and i just cant throw them all away. I used to download applications and then crack them but that is really not necessary anymore because there is now a free alternative to almost every software you can imagine, in fact sometimes, the free alternative is even better. Check out my list of favourite free apps

1. Web browsers-

• Firefox: sets the pace with dozens of new features to deliver a faster, more secure and customizable Web browsing experience for all.Download
• Google Chrome: is a browser that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the web faster, safer, and easier. Download

2. File Sharing-

• µTorrent: A small and incredibly popular BitTorrent client. Download
• Vuze (formerly Azureus): is a free BitTorrent client used to transfer files via the BitTorrent protocol. Download.

3. Messaging and Chat-

• Yahoo Messenger: Keep friends at your fingertips. Download
• Trillian Astra: Trillian is a fully featured, stand-alone, skinnable chat client that supports AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo Messenger, and IRC. Download
• Skype: Skype is software for calling other people on their computers or phones. Download
• Digsby: Digsby provides you with IM, email and Social networks in one easy to use application. Download
• IncrediMail: IncrediMail is an email program that manages all your email messages, communications, contact details, and email transactions. IncrediMail is all about having fun with your email. Download

4. Office

• Foxit Reader: It is a free PDF document viewer, with incredible small size, breezing-fast launch speed and rich feature set. Download
• Kindle for PC: It is a free application that lets you read Kindle books on your PC. Download
• Openoffice.org: This is the leading open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is available in many languages and works on all common computers. Download
• PDF creator: PDFCreator is a free tool to create PDF files from nearly any Windows application. Download

5. AntiVirus, AntiMalware, Firewalls

• Avast: It represents one of the best free antivirus protection currently available on the market. Download
• AVG: It is a trusted anti-virus and anti-spyware protection for Windows. Download
• Panda Cloud: It protects you while you browse, play or work and you won’t even notice it. It is extremely light as all the work is done in the cloud. Download
• Malwarebytes Anti-Malware:It can detect and remove malware that even the most well known anti-virus and anti-malware applications fail to detect. Download
• Comodo Internet Security: They have put their firewall through all kinds of sophisticated tests to ensure its firewall powerful enough to ward off these attacks with default settings. No other firewall has had to work this hard. Download

6. System Tuning

• CCleaner: It is a freeware system optimization, privacy and cleaning tool. It removes unused files from your system – allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. Download
• Speccy-It will give you detailed statistics on every piece of hardware in your computer. Including CPU, Motherboard, RAM, Graphics Cards, Hard Disks, Optical Drives, Audio support. Additionally Speccy adds the temperatures of your different components, so you can easily see if there’s a problem. Download

7. Audio and Video

• Audacity: easy-to-use audio editor and recorder. Download
• K-lite: collection of DirectShow filters, VFW/ACM codecs, and tools. Codecs and DirectShow filters are needed for encoding and decoding audio and video formats. Download
• KMPlayer: versatile media player which can cover various types of container format such as VCD, DVD, AVI, MKV, Ogg Theora, OGM, 3GP, MPEG-1/2/4, WMV, RealMedia, and QuickTime among others. Download
• MediaMonkey: music manager and jukebox for serious music collectors and iPod users. Download
• VLC: highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols without external codec or program. Download
• Winamp: Winamp is a skinnable, multi-format media player. Download
• iTunes: It plays all your digital music and video. It syncs content to your iPod, iPhone, and Apple TV. And it’s an entertainment superstore that stays open 24/7. Download

8. CDand DVD tools

• DAEMON ToolsLite: back up your physical CD/DVD/HD DVD/Blu-ray discs into “virtual discs” or so called “disc image” files, which run directly on your hard drive. Download
• Deep Burner: Need a lightweight, powerful and rock-solid burning application that would work with your drive? Small, easy to start, intuitive to use and powerful, featuring all you need. Download
• ImgBurn: ImgBurn is a lightweight CD / DVD / HD DVD / Blu-ray burning application that everyone should have in their toolkit! Download
• Nero BurnLite: Easy-to-use yet powerful multimedia suite, gives you the freedom to create, rip, copy, burn, edit, share, and upload online. Whatever you want – music, video, photo, and data – share and enjoy with family and friends anytime, anywhere. Download

9. Photos and Images.

• Blender: An integrated application that enables the creation of a broad range of 2D and 3D content. Blender provides a broad spectrum of modeling, texturing, lighting, animation and video post-processing functionality in one package. Download
• Google Earth: lets you fly anywhere on Earth to view satellite imagery, maps, terrain, 3D buildings, from galaxies in outer space to the canyons of the ocean. You can explore rich geographical content, save your toured places, and share with others. Download
• Google SketchUp: Google SketchUp is software that you can use to create 3D models of anything you like. Download
• Ico FX: IcoFX is an all-in-one solution for icon creation, extraction and editing. Download
• Inkscape: Inkscape is an open-source vector graphics editor similar to Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw, Freehand, or Xara X. What sets Inkscape apart is its use of Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), an open XML-based W3C standard, as the native format. Download
• Paint.NET: It is an image and photo manipulation application. Download
• Picasa: Software that helps you instantly find, edit and share all the pictures on your PC. Every time you open Picasa, it automatically locates all your pictures (even ones you forgot you had) and sorts them into visual albums organized by date with folder names you will recognize. Download
• The Gimp: Suitable for a variety of image manipulation tasks, including photo retouching, image composition, and image construction. Download

So, these are the free applications that you will find on my laptop or desktop. They are free and they are good at what they do.